Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/158

 Western Thebes. These colossal statues were about 60 feet high, and each was cut out of a single block of stone. Amenhotep caused eight ships to be built to convey them down the river; he tells us that all the masons under his direction were full of ardour in the work, and that the safe arrival and landing of the statues at Thebes was a 'joyful event.' 'Every heart,' he says, 'was filled with joy, and the people shouted in praise of the king.' They were raised in their appointed place some little distance in front of the new temple the king had founded on the western side of the river. And he tells us that 'they made the gate-towers look small. They were wonderful for size and height, and they will last as long as heaven.'

A few scattered ruins only of the temple remain, but these two battered giants sit there still and keep their watch upon the desert plain. These were the statues called by Greek fancy the 'statues of Memnon,' who was, they said, the son of Aurora, and came to the aid of the Greeks at the siege of Troy. One of them was broken in two during a terrible earthquake that wrought great destruction in Egypt in 27.